YPSILANTI, MI — Eastern Michigan University on Wednesday, “out of an abundance of caution,” announced plans to suspend in-person lectures, seminars and classroom activity from Thursday March 12 through Tuesday, March 31.

In person classes were tentatively set to resume April 1. The decision will be reevaluated on an ongoing basis, the university announced.

“On Monday, March 16, the University will transition classes to a virtual/online format,” EMU announced. "Instructors will contact their students with the online class plan.

“We are working with faculty and staff who conduct performance and laboratory classes to determine the best approach for those classes, and will provide further guidance next week. This is an evolving process and I ask for your patience as we work through these items”

After two Michigan coronavirus cases were announced Tuesday, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Central Michigan University and Michigan Technological University also announced plans to transition from in-person classes to online instruction as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.

An EMU student earlier Wednesday created a petition calling on the university to move classes online without additional fees “until there are hypotheses on how to end COVID-19, at the very least.”

The petition, started by Sydney Brown, argued that EMU should move to online classes to protect those who don’t have health insurance, have immunity disorders or work in a field that would give them an increased chance of infection.

“Our lives are worth so much more than avoiding the rearrangement of lessons and their platform,” the petition read. The petition had garnered about 340 signatures before the decision was announced.

University of Michigan student Amber Renton, before UM announced its planned transition, started a petition that garnered more than 10,000 signatures. UM announced the cancellation of classes Thursday and Friday, March 12 and 13, and a planned transition to remote classes Monday, March 16 through April 21, the last day of classes this semester.

EMU officials posted a statement saying officials learned about the first cases of coronavirus Tuesday night, noting there was no indication that either of the cases have any connection to EMU’s campus.

Three people associated with EMU are under self-quarantine after recently returning from Italy and and showing symptoms, according to the . The self-quarantine will last for two weeks, in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for travelers returning from areas with community transmission of the virus.